Thursday, November 4, 2010

Cotton-Top Hills – Part 2

On Tuesday I introduced you to some of the resident characters around here. But our place seems to be a tourist trap of sorts, because depending on the time of year, we always have lots of visitors. Some stay for the season and some are just passing through.

trantula

This is Leggs. He appears in the early months of fall along with many of his friends. Leggs is very shy and although he looks a little scary, he means no harm. In fact, he’s rather delicate in disposition. He’s looking for his lady love, so he never has time to stop and chat.

Prarie Dog 1 Oh, here is Mitzy. She appeared one day as I was working in the office. She popped up out of a gopher hole and frantically looked around. Obviously, she had taken a wrong turn in the underground tunnel system. I believe Prairie Dogs to be directionally impaired, but shhh don’t tell her that!

Of course we have our own live-in border patrol and they do their job very well. This is Blue Jean, Blue for short. She is 15 years old and still tough as nails.

blue

Blue is super smart and likes to work. She patrols the property well and keeps us humans safe. A couple of years ago she had a run in with Momma from the diamondback gang. Momma was doing some early morning prowling close to the house. Close to where Blue knew my 6 year old daughter would soon be stepping out in the early morning darkness to feed her. Blue took a bite to the face, but sent Momma into hiding. *WB later found Momma out by the barn and made sure she wouldn’t cause any more problems.

This is Thunder. Thunder rolls with the punches. He quietly puts up with all of Blue’s bossiness and is content to sit outside of the limelight. He’s gotten along with Blue for 14 years and he’s jut a good ole boy. thunder

When the coyotes start howling in the canyon, he answers them with a call to stay away. He uses that same call on the toads he encounters. No danger too big or small for this guy.

And really I could go on and on. But those are our main characters. Oh wait, I forgot one of my very favorites. This little guy is the sweetest, don’t let his horns fool you.

horny toad 1

This is T. He loves to pose for pictures and is a very loving guy who is perfectly happy to be held. He keeps the ant population to a minimum around here, which is nice.

Do you have a favorite character of the animal variety?

8 comments:

Jessica Nelson said...

Oh my goodness, too cute! I personally love kittens. :-)

I'm not sure you can convince me that Leggs is harmless, btw. LOL

Kara said...

Kittens are pretty sweet, we have had a few wild ones around. They have to be tough to survive here.
I'll never forget what I was taught about tarantulas as a kid, they are delicate. Hard to imagine, but if they are dropped or fall they likely won't survive. I try to remember that when they suddenly appear all over my yard!

Nancy said...

You are so blessed. I love all of your critters except the snake, sorry. The prainie dog is adorable and one of my favorite zoo animanls. They have them in the Detroit Zoo. I also love your horned fellow. What is he called? I would love to hold him. There is something "hauntingly beautiful" about your dogs protecting all of your precious lovliness.

Tana said...

My dogs! Except that their actually people in disguise. ;)

Jennifer Shirk said...

Eeep, Leggs is a little creepy for my taste.

We have a bunny around us my kidlet named Bubbles. She can identify her because Bubbles has one ear shorter than the other. LOL

PS. YOU won a book at my blog!!!
send me the address you want it mailed to and I'll get it out.
jennifer at jennifershirk dot com

Aimee said...

Aw, they are all cute, except Leggs...I couldn't co-exist with leggs! I'm fine with snakes and lizards and even mice, but I can't do spiders! :)

Anonymous said...

parece com o meu cachorro q sumiu♥

Kara said...

I'm not a big spider person either, espcially the brown recluses and black widows that I am always trying to identify. But I have no doubt who Leggs is and I think that makes him okay:)
T. Anne we think our dogs are human too;)
Thanks Nancy and Aimee!